How is Sarcodosis Treated?

How do you know if you indeed have sarcodosis. A doctor will be able to determine that by taking a detailed medical history and conducting a physical exam and several tests. The tests may include a chest x ray, blood and lung function tests, an electrocardiogram, magnetic resonance scan, and scans using radioactive elements. The doctor would also be using a bronchoscope to look into your lungs and collect samples of cells and other tissue for examination.

How is sarcodosis treated? It really depends on what symptoms you have and how severe they are. It's possible that sarcodosis may have affected your critical organs such as your lungs, eyes, heart and brain. And if so, how are they affected?
The main treatment for sarcodosis is prednisone, a corticosteroid or anti-inflammatory drug. It's usually given for many months, sometimes even for a year or two. When used for a long time at high doses, prednisone can cause serious side effects, including diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, heartburn, acne, osteoporosis, cataracts, and glaucoma. It can also affect the body's production of certain hormones. It is believed that local therapy is the safest way to treat sarcodosis. Localized drugs include eye drops, inhaled drugs for your lungs, and skin creams.

If you have been diagnozed with sarcodosis, you should take steps to stay healthy, including staying from smoking, avoiding substances like dusts and chemicals that can harm your lungs, following a healthy eating plan, and be as active as you can without straining yourself. You might even consider joining a patient support group for sarcodosis. It's important that you keep up with your regular followup even if you aren't taking medication, as new symptoms can occur at any time, and your condition can get worse slowly, without your noticing.

What is Sarcodosis?

Sarcodosis in the inflammation which produces tiny lumps of cells (granulomas) in various organs of the body. Many times, these granulomas or lumps of cells will grow and clump together making more big and small groups of lumps. These lumps when formed in the organ may affect how the organ works.

Where does sarcodosis occur in the body? The answer is it can occur in almost any part. It often starts in either the lungs or lymph nodes and affects the skin, eyes and liver, spleen, brain, nerves and the heart. Sarcodosis can be mild and the symptoms goes away in a few years with or without treatment. However, sarcodosis at times does get worse over time and may likely cause damage to the organ permanently.

The sad part is that what causes sarcodosis is unknown. It's been said that it may be the result of the immune system overreacting to some foreign substances. Sarcodosis can affect both men and women of all ages and race but mostly in people between the ages of 20 to 40 and African Americans are more proned to the disease followed by Asian, German, Irish, Puerto Rican and Scandinavian.

Sarcodosis is difficult to detect because it has no symptoms and if it does, it depends on which organs are affected. Symptoms from sarcodosis in the lungs and lymph nodes include shortness of breath, a dry cough, wheezing, and enlarged and sometimes tender lymph nodes.